Home remedies for opiate withdrawal are specific at-home methods for relieving the symptoms a person may go through while tapering off drugs. Although these are widely used as part of the treatment protocol, it’s never advisable to rely on them or attempt to withdraw alone. It’s always best to seek professional help for opiate addiction and dependency.
This article will provide deeper insights into commonly used home remedies for opiate withdrawal and familiarize you with an alternative (and much better) treatment option that will help you maintain your sobriety.
What Is Opiate Withdrawal?
Opiate withdrawal is the onset of physical and mental symptoms that start soon after a person stops taking a drug they are dependent on.
Opiates are drugs that are naturally derived from the opium poppy plant, unlike other opioids, whose ingredients are usually created in labs. These drugs are generally prescribed to patients who are struggling with persistent pain but may also be found illegally on the streets.
Once you stop using opiates or decrease the amount of the drug you are taking, you’ll start experiencing some uncomfortable withdrawal symptoms. When you are addicted to pain medication, your body needs time to adjust to no longer having opiates in your system, and it reacts accordingly, along with your mind.
Opiate addiction and dependence can result in mild, moderate, and severe withdrawal symptoms, depending on the duration and intensity of the drug use.
Common Opiate Withdrawal Symptoms
Common opiate withdrawal symptoms usually begin in the first 24 hours after you stop using the drug. They include:
- Anxiety
- Yawning
- Sweating
- Runny nose
- Restlessness
- Muscle aches
- Inability to sleep
After the first 24 hours, the symptoms become more intense, as it’s possible to experience:
- Nausea
- Vomiting
- Diarrhea
- Blurry vision
- Dilated pupils
- Rapid heart rate
- Abdominal cramps
- High blood pressure
While every person has a timeline of when the opiate withdrawal symptoms will subside, they usually get better within 72 hours. Likewise, many people notice a significant improvement in symptoms connected to opiate withdrawal after the first week.
How to Prepare for an Opiate Withdrawal at Home
Undergoing an opiate withdrawal at home is extremely challenging and dangerous, as the symptoms can be too severe, especially in long-term users of high drug doses. This is particularly true for patients who wish to quit “cold turkey” without medical support.
A somewhat safer method involves slowly tapering off the drug over an extended period of time, which still results in withdrawal symptoms, though more manageable ones.
Those who opt for tapering off the drug usually reduce their dose by 5% to 20% every four weeks, giving themselves time to adjust to the lowered dosage.
Instead of tapering your opioid medicine by yourself, discuss the problem with your doctor. They can help you create the best strategy for treating your opiate dependence, minimizing unpleasantries and making you more likely to manage withdrawal symptoms successfully.
Those who opt for unassisted withdrawal treatment often rely on specific home remedies for opioid withdrawal to power through the process and relieve their symptoms. However, these solutions aren’t reliable and often have significant drawbacks and risks.
Home Remedies for Opiate Withdrawal
While it’s always best to manage pain pill detox and the symptoms stemming from it with professional help, some people choose to rely on home remedies for opiate withdrawal instead.
The most common ones include:
#1. Hydration
Hydration is essential for detoxing from opiates, as withdrawal is almost always accompanied by vomiting and diarrhea. In severe cases, these symptoms can have serious health consequences and even result in a hospital stay. Thus, most people put maintaining proper fluid intake high on their list of home remedies for opiate withdrawal.
Most hydration plans rely on drinking plain water, though some patients also use electrolyte drinks to ramp up their fluid intake or eat water-rich foods, such as watermelon.
However, even if you are aware of the importance of hydration, it’s still not advisable to go through withdrawal alone. As the symptoms grow in severity, you might find it difficult, both mentally and physically, to track your fluid intake. This may result in dehydration, which might further worsen your overall condition.
#2. Over-The-Counter Medicine
Over-the-counter (OTC) medicine can be somewhat helpful in managing opiate withdrawal symptoms. Patients who opt for at-home treatment rely on:
- Loperamide for diarrhea
- Meclizine or dimenhydrinate for nausea
- Acetaminophen or ibuprofen for aches and pains
However, OTC medications can have side effects of their own, especially when not used according to the instructions.
In particularly severe cases of withdrawal, they may have no effect whatsoever, prompting the patient to take more than the recommended dose. This is yet another reason to rely on medical professionals rather than attempt to withdraw at home.
Ultimately, OTC medications can make opiate and opioid withdrawal symptoms more manageable, but they can’t completely eradicate them. As a result, they are rarely sufficient for effective treatment, especially because they don’t truly eliminate cravings or address the root cause of the problem.
Other Common Approaches to Opiate Withdrawal Management
Two other common approaches to managing opiate withdrawal are Medication-Assisted Therapy (MAT) and acupuncture. While many turn to these methods for relief from opioid dependence, their success and reliability are questionable, at best.
#1. Medication Assisted Therapy (MAT)
Medication-assisted therapy (MAT) is an approach mostly used in the treatment of addiction to heroin and other potent opioids, such as prescription painkillers. This method was approved by the FDA and combines medications—usually methadone, buprenorphine, and naloxone—with counseling and therapy.
The problem with MAT is that medicines used are opioids in their own right, and patients just become dependent on them instead of the opioids they are attempting to withdraw from.
In fact, buprenorphine and methadone have the same potential to create tolerance and cause overdose as other prescription opioids. The only difference is in their somewhat lower potency, but ultimately, using them for withdrawal management is just swapping one drug for another.
Hence, people who opt for MAT must also withdraw from the medication they use for treatment and essentially go through the same process as when weaning off any other drug. That’s hardly a solution at all, and it puts them at greater risk of relapse and other complications caused by long-term opioid use.
#2. Acupuncture
Acupuncture is believed to have the ability to stimulate the body’s natural detoxification process and thus help it eliminate toxins. As a result, it is supposedly a viable treatment option for drug addiction and dependence that particularly gained popularity in China.
However, according to Jaung-Geng Lin, Yuan-Yu Chan, and Yi-Hung Chen, the evidence of acupuncture’s actual effectiveness in opioid dependence treatment isn’t particularly convincing. Though several studies they’ve examined have discovered positive outcomes, they are generally considered low-quality and unreliable.
In light of that, acupuncture is not a method someone with an opiate addiction can depend on. It can’t resolve the root problem of opioid addiction, which is the only way to achieve long-term sobriety.
Therefore, it’s best to use it only as a form of relief and rely on a more trustworthy treatment approach to drug addiction and dependence, such as Accelerated Neuro-Regulation (ANR).
ANR Treatment for Opiate Withdrawal
The Accelerated Neuro-Regulation (ANR) treatment helps people break the cycle of opiate addiction by reversing the neurobiological changes in the brain. It restores the central nervous system to its pre-dependence state, which is why it has an incredible success rate.
As the first and only treatment that treats the root cause of opiate dependency and addiction, it’s helped 25,000 people worldwide go through withdrawal and maintain sobriety. It doesn’t only help patients go back to their pre-dependence state, but it also allows them to go through the process without uncomfortable withdrawal symptoms.
ANR treatment offers unique benefits to people who are struggling with opiate dependency. These include:
- Utmost safety: ANR treatment facilities adhere to the highest safety standards, and treatment is conducted in an ICU setting.
- Trained staff: Led by Dr. Andre Waismann, the ANR team consists of highly-trained and well-educated medical professionals assisted by critical care RNs.
- Short-term duration: With an average hospital stay lasting around 36 hours, patients can quickly return to their everyday lives free of any cravings or opioid withdrawal symptoms.
Key Takeaways
Home remedies for opiate withdrawal may seem like a simple, inexpensive solution for managing your opioid dependence, but they are ineffective and come with a significant risk of relapse and side effects. That’s because these remedies are focused on treating symptoms rather than addressing the root cause of the problem.
Let’s quickly review what we’ve covered in this article:
- Common home remedies for opiate withdrawal include hydration, over-the-counter medication, and kratom.
- None of these options is particularly effective or safe to perform without medical supervision, and kratom is potentially just as dangerous as the opioids you are trying to quit.
- Medication-assisted therapy (MAT) is a commonly used treatment, but it replaces dependence on the original opioid with dependence on a different opioid like methadone or buprenorphine.
- ANR is the only opioid addiction treatment that focuses on addressing the root cause of opiate dependence and is, therefore, the best available option.
Home Remedies for Opiate Withdrawal FAQ
Ibuprofen can help with withdrawal symptoms and represents a common home remedy for opiate withdrawal in general. However, you shouldn’t expect it to have a revolutionary effect. You can use it for mild pain management, but that’s probably the most you will get from it.
You can get off of opiates by finding professional medical help and making sure you are in safe hands during the process. The ANR treatment for opioid withdrawal will help you treat the root cause of your addiction and increase your chances of long-term success and sobriety.
The symptoms that require you to visit a doctor if going through withdrawals are the ones that might be life-threatening if there’s no prompt reaction. These include seizures, excessive vomiting, and diarrhea that might lead to severe dehydration and mental health concerns.
How long withdrawal symptoms last depends on the substance a person uses, the severity of their dependence on it, the duration of taking the drug, and many other factors. Thus, it can take a few days, weeks, or even months for the withdrawal symptoms to disappear completely.
